Liz Harding

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You can sponsor Liz's work at www.justgiving.com/lizinsudan

 

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Hi

 

Hope all is ok with you. I am now back in the UK!! - just trying to get my self reorientated and readjusted to life year.

 

I will be back in Brum at the end of May - I will pop into church one Sunday - but it would also be great to meet up with people for a coffee/chat.

 

Looking forward to catching up soon

 

Liz

 

 

Posted: 05/05/2007

 

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Hi guys

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

Sorry for the delay in contacting you, but emailing has to be done at the clinic and I don't like hanging around the office after work as I tend to get stuck into clinical stuff again!!

 

What can i say about Leer - it a proper hospital at the end of the town...unlike Wudier there are not many trees and it looks more like your think that Sudan should look like! (i.e. dusty and flat!!) still live in a mud hut - although it is bigger than my wudier hut! - so it feels really luxurious...I even have a mat so i can have bare feet in my little house.

 

I like my new job - the work is far more busy and challenging - it's a large hospital with about 60 inpatients - although with only 30 bed it's intersting - we have a ward called "under the tree" which is very useful!! My job as base nurse is to manage the inpatients, materity (interesting experience) and the therapuetic feeding centre...I have about 15 staff to look after and currently trying to recruit more. There has not been anyone doing my job for about 4 months so I am spending most of the time trying to sort stuff out...all fun - clinically, it is very challenging - seeing more stuff that I have never seen before and all are sooooo sick, especially the children - in one 24 hours period we lost 5 patients!!

 

The compound, though, is also close to the hospital - we can hear the patients from the toilet!! But my hut is still my palace and I now go to bed early to have some space and quiet..please pray for my strenght as I can see how easy it would be to burn out here.

 

Having said all that, I am feeling more settled - I have a great ex-pat team and we have fun too...for example, last night we were just chatting under the stars drinking gin and eating Pringles (yes we have Pringles - so don't feel too sorry for us!!) just have to play hard in order to balance the working hard!

 

Love and hugs

 

Liz

 

Posted 05/01/07

 

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Southern Sudan is now steadily changing to be hot and dusty!! – The rains are now only the odd sprinkle so I can now put away my gum boots (wellies). Every evening new insects emerge from hiding and the nasty ones are also changing as scorpions are now around and mosquitoes are reducing in numbers which is a relief!!

 

We have now been able to get to the outreach sites to provide them with value support as well as supplies. These sites are in much need of healthcare as they have very limited sanitation and access to safe drinking water, combined with being in very remote areas. We are currently in contact with other development organisations that are planning to dig essential boreholes in a number of the outreach sites and provide much needed community education.

 

As a result of the change in the weather the clinic has got a different feel, as more patients are able to access it. You now only need to wade through the river rather than swim to get to the clinic!!

 

So clinic life goes on and the daily challenges keep on coming. I have now been in Southern Sudan for nearly 4 months but I am still on a sharp learning curve that I predict will continue during my time here.

 

We have had an increase in the number of malnutrition cases from the outreach sites that were referred to us. Seeing these children - some of whom come to us too late - is heartbreaking, and knowing that there are probably many more of their neighbours like them is hard to comprehend.  Some days I get so caught up in the work that I need reminding of the privilege that we have to reach a handful of those in need and to work in such an amazing place.

 

During the past few months we have been doing Trachoma operations – a condition caused by infection and bad hygiene. It is amazing to give people back their sight by such a simple procedure.

 

Well, in the new year I will be moving to an other project so even more challenges await me!

 

 

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Well what do I say about the first few weeks in Wudier with MSF? Working in such an isolated setting in the south of Sudan was initially a huge shock to the system – the sights, smells and sounds (very loud frogs!!) were overwhelming not to mention my work in the clinic.

 

My work here is in such contrast to my work at home in A&E. Where at home the patients just ring 999 to come to the hospital (appropriately or inappropriately) the patients here are carried up to 5 days by their friends and families to receive medical care in the clinic. No nice A&E trolleys here the patients lie on the floor under mozi nets, dust everywhere, working on the floor in the dime light of the ward huts is a interesting experience (unless the sun is shining when we have the ward round under the tree in the sun!)

 

We have been having some fun times though. Lots of music and some parties with another local NGO  – a good release from the work at the clinic. We are now in the wet season so when it rains our wellies (gum boats) are essential because floods are a common occurrence! I am so glad that we are not in tents!

 

I have been seeing diseases that I have only read/heard about – the start of a huge learning curve! The work has been and I am sure will continue to be frustrating, seeing patients on the brink of dying from simple diseases (eg chest infections) and injures that at home would have been treated. Child birth is a risky business as I saw first hand last week, a patient who took 4 days to travel by foot to the clinic to get emergency obstetric care was a heart breaking sight.  So much living on the edge of life and death here! The work though is at times encouraging – we can see the immediate impact that our work has which motivates and encourages me that the work here is needed and is valued by the local population.

 

I am looking forward to the coming months – the challenges and the learning…so watch this site for the next chapter.

 

 

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Having spent 8 years in the NHS working as a nurse in Birmingham I decided to leave the A&E department behind and join MSF. Aid work has been a growing passion of mine for the past few years until i could no long hold back and just had to get my hand stuck in and do something. So i find my self in Southern Sudan working in a Primary health care Clinic.

 

For years, MSF has assisted people in both northern and southern Sudan, providing basic health care at hospitals or through networks of clinics and health centers. Its work has included treating people with tuberculosis (TB), kala azar (visceral leishmaniasis) and other diseases; providing food; and treating the severely malnourished. MSF also delivers clean drinking water and provides sanitary facilities in areas where displaced people have sought shelter.

 

Click here to find out more about MSF's work in Sudan